Listen, O mind, to the wondrous truth that pervades all: In the highest reality, there is no true essence of disciple or teacher. There is no need for inquiry into what is moving or unmoving, for everywhere, liberation is unbroken and ever-present. Why, then, do you grieve, when all is revealed as equal? Here, there is neither form nor formlessness, neither difference nor non-difference, neither creation nor dissolution. All distinctions dissolve, so why do you lament, O mind, when all is truly one? There is no bondage of virtue or vice, no actions to be performed for the living or the dead. Everything is pure, stainless, and equal. Why, O mind, do you cling to sorrow, when all is the same? In this state, there is neither state nor non-state, neither desire nor its absence. Here, consciousness and darkness are equally liberation itself. Why, O mind, do you grieve, when all is equal? The essence here is uninterrupted and ever-present. There is no disconnection or connection, no separation or union. When all is free from all limitations and sameness prevails, why do you grieve, O mind? Whether one is homeless or dwelling in a hut, all companions are seen as equal. The highest truth is beyond attachment and non-attachment, beyond knowledge and ignorance. Why, O mind, do you grieve, when all is equal? There is neither change nor changelessness, for both are unreal; neither distinction nor non-distinction, for both are unreal. If truth resides only in the Self, why, O mind, do you grieve, when all is equal? Here, all beings are truly equal, uninterrupted, and unmoving. Why, O mind, do you grieve, when all is equal? There is neither discrimination nor non-discrimination, both arising from ignorance; neither imagination nor its absence, both rooted in ignorance. When knowledge is uninterrupted, why do you grieve, O mind, when all is equal? There is no state of liberation or bondage, no state of merit or sin, no state of fullness or emptiness. Why do you grieve, O mind, when all is equal? If there is equality beyond color and non-color, beyond cause and effect, beyond difference and non-difference, why do you grieve, O mind, when all is equal? Here, consciousness is uninterrupted everywhere, unmoving and free from all duality. Why do you grieve, O mind, when all is equal? All-pervading, utterly pure and unmoving, free from the distinction of day and night, this reality pervades everything. Why do you grieve, O mind, when all is equal? There is no meeting of bondage and liberation, no meeting of union and separation, no meeting of reasoning and non-reasoning. Why do you grieve, O mind, when all is equal? Here, both time and timelessness are negated; the smallest and subtlest are transcended. Only pure truth remains, never negated. Why do you grieve, O mind, when all is equal? There is neither body nor bodilessness; the highest reality is free from dream and deep sleep, from expression and non-expression. Why do you grieve, O mind, when all is equal? Like the sky—pure, vast, equal to all, free from every distinction, the same in all, devoid of essence, expansion, or change—why do you grieve, O mind, when all is equal? Here, virtue and vice are transcended, substance and non-substance are surpassed, desire and its absence are left behind. Why do you grieve, O mind, when all is equal? Pleasure and pain are absent; all is equal. Sorrow and its absence are surpassed. Teacher and disciple are transcended, for the truth is supreme. Why do you grieve, O mind, when all is equal? There is neither sprout nor essence nor expansion, neither movement nor stillness, neither sameness nor difference, neither inquiry nor its absence. Why do you grieve, O mind, when all is equal? Here, the essence is the collection of all essences, described as the differentiation of one's own nature. The functioning of the senses in objects is unreal. Why do you grieve, O mind, when all is equal? The scriptures declare in many ways that this world, beginning with space, is like a mirage. If all is one, uninterrupted, and equal, why do you grieve, O mind, when all is equal? Attainment and non-attainment do not exist where there is no mark or sign. Absorbed in the taste of sameness, purified by contemplation, the supreme Avadhuta speaks the truth. Thus ends the fifth chapter. The scriptures proclaim in many ways that we, and this world beginning with space, are like a mirage. If all is one, uninterrupted, supremely auspicious, and incomparable, how can there be any comparison? If the supreme is beyond distinction and non-distinction, beyond action and inaction, and all is one, uninterrupted, and supremely auspicious, how can there be worship or austerity? The mind itself is uninterrupted and all-pervading, beyond limitation and vastness, supremely auspicious. How can it be grasped by mind or speech? When the distinction between day and night dissolves, when what has arisen and what has not arisen dissolve, if all is one, uninterrupted, and supremely auspicious, how can there be sun, moon, or fire? When the distinction between desire and its absence, between action and inaction dissolve, if all is one, uninterrupted, and supremely auspicious, how can there be inner or outer difference in the mind? If there is no essence or non-essence, no emptiness or non-emptiness, and all is one, uninterrupted, and supremely auspicious, how can there be a first or a last? If the dissolution of distinction and non-distinction, the dissolution of knower and known, and all is one, uninterrupted, and supremely auspicious, how can there be a third or fourth state? What is spoken or unspoken is not true; what is known or unknown is not true. If all is one, uninterrupted, and supremely auspicious, how can there be objects, senses, intellect, or mind? Sky and wind are not true; earth and fire are not true. If all is one, uninterrupted, and supremely auspicious, how can there be cloud or water? If the dissolution of the imagined world and imagined gods is realized, and all is one, uninterrupted, and supremely auspicious, how can there be judgment of qualities and faults in the mind? Death and birth are negated; action and inaction are negated. If there is only the one, uninterrupted, all-pervading Shiva, how can one speak of coming and going? Prakriti and Purusha are not truly separate; there is no real distinction of cause and effect. If there is only the one, uninterrupted, all-pervading Shiva, how can one speak of Purusha and non-Purusha? There is no third thing that brings suffering, nor does the second arise from qualities. If there is only the one, uninterrupted, all-pervading Shiva, how can there be old age, youth, or childhood? It is beyond ashrama and caste, beyond cause and doer. If there is only the one, uninterrupted, all-pervading Shiva, how can there be the thought of destruction or indestructibility? The notions of eater and uneaten are false; of born and unborn are false. If there is only the one, uninterrupted, all-pervading Shiva, how can there be the perishable and the imperishable? The idea of the perishing of man or non-man, of woman or non-woman, is false. If there is only the one, uninterrupted, all-pervading Shiva, how can there be pleasure or absence of pleasure? Thus, O mind, in the vision of the supreme truth, all divisions, all opposites, all distinctions and their absence dissolve. All is one, uninterrupted, all-pervading, and supremely auspicious. Why, then, O mind, do you grieve, when all is truly equal?